PENELOPE HILL: It's a way of buying that is really putting pressure on people to buy in a very quick way.

SIMON LAUDER: How does it pressure people differently to how they might be pressured in a retail store for example?

PENELOPE HILL: Well in a retail store you walk in there, you can have a look at something, you can walk out again, you can go and compare with other stores, but with this Click Frenzy it's all designed to be bought in one day, one day of sale.

So you put in your credit card details and you can then just sort of click a number of things. So you're not walking to different counters or in various parts of the shop, you're not with other people. It's a much more focused, intense way of buying something.

SIMON LAUDER: And what are your concerns about some of the decisions that might lead to?

PENELOPE HILL: Well we see hear from a lot of people with credit card debt, where they're in terrible trouble, and can't, because of the pressure of their credit card debt, they get into trouble with their rent or their utilities.

So for us it's - we're concerned that the people will impulse buy and will buy a lot of things that they don't need. They may think that they're going to be able to pay it off in one credit card cycle but unexpected events can happen like a bigger-than-usual electricity bill, people might lose their job, then they're left with payment by credit card at a massive, sometimes 20 per cent or more interest rate.

SIMON LAUDER: The organisers of the event are urging consumers to ignore that warning.

JESSICA BENTON: I would warn consumers and retailers not to listen to those sorts of messages really. I mean we're trying to help the consumers.

SIMON LAUDER: The sale has been organised by an industry group, Power Retail. Spokeswoman, Jessica Benton.

JESSICA BENTON: So we're really trying to help the consumer and the retailer to build their online sector.

SIMON LAUDER: The name Click Frenzy though does suggest that you want people to buy lots of things very quickly and I guess bad decisions could be made under those circumstances.

JESSICA BENTON: Yeah well I mean I guess consumers do have to be careful about what they're doing but we also, we want it to be a frenzy in that they get involved quickly and you know they don't miss out on any of the deals.

SIMON LAUDER: Two hundred retailers are taking part in the online sale and hundreds of thousands of shoppers have registered their details. Retailers are hoping the 24-hour event will help them win back computer savvy customers who are already buying from overseas retailers.

BRENT COKER: We're a little bit late actually, I mean many other countries have already picked this up.

SIMON LAUDER: Digital marketing expert from the University of Melbourne, Brent Coker, says it's an important test for Australian retailers.

BRENT COKER: Many people are very savvy when they shop online. They'll participate in this Click Frenzy, browse the retailers, look at the deals, and if the deals aren't what they expect, they'll simply click away and go back to the US.

So I think this is an opportunity but it needs to be properly taken advantage of by the local retailers here.

SIMON LAUDER: So there is a risk in it for the retailers?

BRENT COKER: There is a risk. Online shoppers are very savvy and they know what they can get from the US retailers. The thing about online is they don't necessarily need to make any money during this Click Frenzy sale, the aim is simply to bring people back because loyalty is much stronger online than it is offline.

SIMON LAUDER: Financial counselling expert Penelope Hill suspects the credit card companies may be looking forward to the online shopping frenzy even more than the bargain hunters.

PENELOPE HILL: Our hopes would be that this is not the way that people do business in the future. I can see from a retailer point of view they're aiming to make a lot of money from it and the credit card sellers also get a lot of money from it, particularly when people don't pay off their credit card in time.